Royale Without Cheese

Hoje falamos de "Shame" de Steve McQueen. Muito do que torna o filme cativante é a sua temática única, abordando a questão do vício sexual da personagem de Michael Fassbender; mas será que o tom misterioso e a estética fria do filme funcionam na sua totalidade?

We take a look at King Hu's Wuxia masterpiece "A Touch of Zen". The film has an otherworldly feel and is quite narratively unconventional in some regards, but when you get on its wavelength it's a thing of beauty.

Today we discuss "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", a cult classic from the early 2000s. Despite some rushed moments in the narrative, the beautiful music and the creative imagery do a great job of placing us in Hedwig's world.

Hoje discutimos “The Deer Hunter”, o celebrado clássico de Michael Cimino. Debatemos se o ritmo do filme e se justifica a sua duração, assim como se o realizador sucede na forma como representa a guerra do Vietname e os efeitos pós-traumáticos.

Voltamos a falar de cinema português, desta vez com “Os Verdes Anos” de Paulo Rocha. Achamos o filme particularmente interessante como cápsula do tempo, pelos seus diálogos e as localizações lisboetas que filma; no entanto, tem alguns problemas nos seu desenvolvimento narrativo.

It’s double bill time an the Royale boys discuss Coppola’s “Dracula” and “Megalopolis”. Things get tense when Miguel reveals he didn’t particulary like Dracula, which upsets Tomás who loves the film to death. The perspectives on “Megalopolis” are more unanimous, it’s an imperfect film, but it has some strong points.

Hoje discutimos o celebrado “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” de Apichatpong. É um filme sereno e que é preciso estar no mood certo para ver, mas tem imensas ideias interessantes e momentos de grande beleza.

Juntem-se à nossa discussão sobre “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”. Falamos sobre a performance incrível de Bette Davis e a feud com Joan Crawford, assim como alguns dos nossos problemas com a narrativa do filme.

The Royale boys discuss one of the most celebrated films of all time, Chaplin’s “City Lights”. It has a purity and beauty that is hard to describe, the final scene being the epitome of its power - a simple exchange of looks that hits you right in the feelings.

We take a look at the underseen Russian comedy “Beware of the Car”. We found this to be a very charming film, full of heart and funny moments, which helps us reflect about the fact we stereotypically think of Russian films as very depressing and serious.

Visitamos a mente peculiar de Ingmar Bergman, olhando para o seu filme “A Hora do Lobo”. Apesar de ser um filme um pouco impenetrável em certos momentos, não deixa de nos impressionar com a força das imagens, o mood misterioso e o lugares surrealistas a que nos leva.

Hoje reencontramos Pedro Almodovar com o seu filme recente, “O Quarto ao Lado”. Achámos o filme relativamente contido e leve tendo em conta as sensibilidades do realizador e o temas que aborda, e as performances de Julianne Moore e Tilda Swinton trazem um grande poder emocional ao filme.

Today we’re joined by Lesley Loksi Chan to discuss her award-winning film “Lloyd Wong, Unfinished”. We talk about how Lesley was first approached to make this film and her journey throughout the whole process, and what her approach was to honor Lloyd’s images.

Today we welcome filmmaker Jake Abraham to the RWC table, and he brought Leone’s “Once Upon a Time America” for discussion. It’s an engrossing but challenging film, especially because of the main character’s horrible actions. Still, Leone is a master at what he does and there’s so much here to discuss and dwell on, so come on in and take a listen…

We dive into the art-house epic of the year, "The Brutalist". The impressive scope and its strong first half give the film a lot of strength; however, the narrative loses a bit of potency in the second half. Very intellectually stimulating, nonetheless...

Today we discuss a tough one, folks... "Emília Pérez" is a mysterious work of filmmaking, which left us perplexed, and we very much disliked it. It looks like a boring serious TV-Drama, lacks visual imagination, and we don't believe it approaches Mexican culture and trans people with the proper respect they deserve. Are we missing something?

Hoje discutimos a falhas e virtudes de “Anora” de Sean Baker. O filme tem um balanço muito bem conseguido entre a comédia e o drama, e toma umas decisões narrativas inesperadas e interessantes; no entanto, sentimos que podia ter havido mais desenvolvimento da interioridade das personagens.

Juntem-se à nossa discussão de “All We Imagine as Light” de Payal Kapadia. Ficámos impressionados com a beleza deste filme, que demonstra muita empatia e atenção aos gestos das personagens. Para alem disso, as duas atrizes principais são excelentes, capturam perfeitamente as vidas de duas mulheres de gerações diferentes.

We join the high stakes world of cardinals and priests to discuss the shortcomings of “Conclave”. It’s an interesting film for its unique context, but we felt some disconnection to it - when it focuses on the politics of the conclave, it’s pretty fun; but in regards to the personal drama of Cardinal Lawrence, we didn’t really feel it was very interesting. Plus: it has some very TV-show-like sensib...

The Royale boys take the substance and reveal their honest thoughts on why the film didn’t quite work for them. Despite Demi Moore’s great performance, we felt the story was somewhat one note and its world too thin and cartoonish to register emotionally. And despite the amazing and creative moments of body horror, we felt it was lacking creativity in other aspects: for example, its surface level d...

Chegou a época dos Óscares e começamos por discutir um dos nossos filmes favoritos de 2024, “Challengers” de Luca Guadagnino. Discutimos o que torna o filme tão cativante, assim como o que torna as personagens e a relação triangular tão interessantes.

Apesar da sua idade avançada, Clint Eastwood não descansa e está de volta com “Juror #2”, mais um filme interessante do veterano que explora um dilema moral. É um filme muito sólido e construído com mestria, e ficámos especialmente impressionados como o filme acaba por não cair em idealismos forçados e irrealistas.

Join us as we dive into the mysterious, but hypnotic “A Page of Madness”, a silent masterpiece from Kinugasa Teinosuke. We discuss how confusing the film can be, but how that’s also part of the beauty of it; and we try to make sense of the plot and all the imagery.

Today we discuss the classic “The Night of the Hunter”, directed by Charles Laughton. We talk about Robert Mitchum’s amazing performance, as well as the supporting cast, including Lilian Gish’s appearance as a tough but caring old woman; and we talk about the fairy tale feel of the film.

Join our nostalgia boat in our discussion about the 2000s Hit Fantasy Film "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Withc and the Wardrobe", directed by Michael Anderson. It seems that the RWC hosts are looking at this dear old film with new eyes since their childhood days and that is to say, with not a great new impression. Come and hear us talk about Narnia's character development and narrative...